The Arcade
by IHeartArchuleta
Summary: Adam and Maya go to the arcade after WhisperHug's gig at Degrassi. Fluff ensues. Romance. Friendship. Adam/Maya. Oneshot.


Maya Matlin sat backstage after WhisperHug's gig at the dance. She didn't want to go home yet, but she didn't necessarily want to go out to the dance, either. The younger Matlin girl had never been a fan of dances. She was never the popular one or got asked to dance by a lot of guys. It wasn't that she minded, but it would be nice to be noticed once in awhile. She was starting to think it wouldn't happen. The one boy that HAD started to notice her actually noticed her male best friend. And it effectively killed both relationships.

Maya looked at her cello case, seriously considering just sucking it up and going home, when she heard someone stumble through the door. She looked over to see Adam Torres, the band's bass player. When Adam saw her in the room, he jumped. He hadn't expected anyone else to be back here. He had assumed all of the band members left.

"Maya? What are you doing back here?" He asked, surprise still in his voice as he looked at the younger girl.

"I could ask you the same thing." She replied. Adam nodded, accepting the answer. Maya sighed and said, "Dances aren't really my thing, okay? Your turn."

"Slow song." Adam replied. Maya gave him a confused look. It didn't explain anything. "I don't have anyone to dance with, and I'm not gonna stand out there and watch everyone else dance." He continued. Maya nodded.

The pair sat in silence for a couple minutes, the music flowing through the room. Finally, Adam asked, "Do you want to get out of here? There are a million more interesting things we could be doing."

Maya nodded, grabbing her cello, and following Adam toward the door. She didn't know why she was so willing to go with the younger Torres boy, because she had only really known him for a few weeks (she barely saw him when Drew and Katie were together), but she did. She followed him as they weaved through the swaying couples to Adam's car.

The boy opened the trunk and Maya put her cello in it next to Adam's bass. She turned to the boy and bit her bottom lip before asking, "Is Drew going to have a ride home if we leave?" She didn't care about Drew in the slightest, but she didn't want Adam to get in trouble if Drew couldn't get home from the school.

"Drew didn't come to the dance. He and Bianca opted to stay at our house." He replied. Maya nodded and Adam walked over to the passenger side door and pulled it open for her. The younger girl giggled as she climbed in, and Adam closed the door before climbing into the driver's side.

"Well, what do you know? Chivalry's not dead after all." Maya said, a smile on her face. Adam glanced at her and gave her a small grin. Maya felt the butterflies rise up in her stomach at the look. She tried to ignore them as they began driving off. "So, where are we going?" She asked, after they had been on the road a couple of minutes.

"If I tell you, it would take the surprise out of it." The boy replied. Maya tried to think of all the places Adam would take her. His house? Not with Drew and Bianca there. Her house? That didn't seem very likely either. More places ran through her head, but she couldn't think of any place. She wanted to ask again, but she knew Adam wanted it to be a surprise.

After a few more minutes of driving, Adam pulled up into a parking lot. Maya looked at the building to see a sign that said in bright neon letters: THE ARCADE. Maya turned to look at Adam as he put the car in park. "Creative name."

Adam just smiled and rolled his eyes before climbing out of the car. Maya followed suit, staying close to the older boy. She didn't know what it was, but she still had butterflies in her stomach. She refused to believe that they were from Adam, so it had to be something else. Maybe she was just paranoid because she was in an unfamiliar place? Yeah, that had to be it.

Adam led her inside the arcade. Maya was surprised to see there was actually a wide range of video games, and tables where people could sit and eat if they wanted. It was kind of dark in the place, but the screens from the games, plus what light they did have, kept it lit well enough. She followed Adam as he led her to a table.

"I'm gonna go get us some tokens, okay? Be right back." He said. Maya nodded as she took her seat, watching as the other boy walked a few feet away to a man behind a counter. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was obvious from the way the man's face lit up in recognition that Adam frequented The Arcade a lot. Adam had a smile on his face as he talked to the guy. Maya was surprised when they looked her way. She gave them a little wave before they turned away.

A couple of minutes later, Adam was back. He smiled down at the girl and he had an excited flicker in his eyes. Maya smiled back up at him, the butterflies still fluttering away in her stomach. "Ready?" He asked. Maya nodded and stood up from her chair, leaving her jacket with Adam's on the table.

The Arcade wasn't completely empty, but it by no means had a lot of customers that night, so Adam and Maya pretty much got their choice of whatever game they wanted to play. They played a couple of combat games (which Maya was really bad at), and racing games. Each teenager beat the other in one round. Finally, Maya saw a Dance Dance Revolution game.

"Adam, let's do this." Maya said, pointing out the game. Adam looked at the machine, his eyes widening a little.

"Yeah, I'm not really much of a dancer." He said, shaking his head.

"Oh, come on, it'll be so much fun." Maya said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the machine, not stopping to think about the bolts of what she could only describe as electricity shoot through her arm. Adam sighed and reluctantly put the tokens for the game in.

They did a couple of easy warm up rounds before going on to a harder one. Neither teenager was very good, and Maya was only winning because of Adam's sheer and total lack of rhythm when it came to the game. When the round was over, the blonde girl cheered victoriously.

Adam laughed at the girl's happiness before feeling his stomach growl. "Hey, I'm getting a little hungry. You want anything to eat?" He asked. Maya nodded and the two walked back over to the man behind the cash register.

"Hey, Adam, you having fun?" The person, who was a fat, middle-aged man, asked the young teenager. Adam nodded, a smile still on his face. The man turned to Maya. "And who's this?"

"Sal, this is my friend, Maya. We're in a band together." Adam replied. Maya gave the man a wave. Sal smiled at her. "We were wondering if we could get something to eat."

"Of course!" Sal said, "What'll it be?" He said, looking at the teenagers.

"I'll have a couple slices of pizza and some onion rings. And a soda." Adam replied, before turning to Maya. "What about you?"

"Can I get a burger and some fries with a water, please?" She asked. Sal nodded and punched it into the register.

"Okay, that'll be twelve fifty-eight, kids." He said, and Adam immediately pulled out his wallet to get his money.

"I'll pay you back for my half I promise." Maya said. The boy had already spent money for the tokens, and now he was paying for her dinner. She thought back to the "chivalry's not dead" comment she made on the way to The Arcade.

Adam shook his head. "Don't worry about it." Maya opened her mouth to respond, but he stopped her by saying, "Seriously, Maya. I don't mind. It's not a big deal."

Maya sighed and nodded. The pair walked over to their table and waited for the food to arrive. It came a few minutes later. As they ate, Maya looked at the older boy as if she was noticing him for the first time. He was actually kind of cute. And he had amazing blue eyes. And he was also really nice, funny, smart, and knew how to play the bass. All of which were qualities Maya looked for in a boyfriend (okay, except maybe the last one. It was just a bonus). But someone like Adam wouldn't go out with someone like her. He probably liked someone his age or older, not a Niner like her.

"Is everything okay? You're looking at me kind of weird." Adam said, noticing the girl's gaze, effectively breaking her from her thoughts. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before saying.

"Yeah, everything's fine, sorry." She put her head down and began to eat her food with a new fervor. She still stole a few glances at Adam, not noticing that Adam was doing the same with her.

After they finished eating, Adam looked at the clock. "Wow, it's like ten. I should probably get you home, huh?" He asked.

Maya nodded. "Probably." She replied. The pair stood up from the table and grabbed their jackets before leaving. They walked back to the Torres car and climbed in.

"Do you go there a lot?" Maya asked as they backed out. She had meant to ask him that at The Arcade, but got sidetracked with everything else. Adam nodded.

"Four or five times a week when I can. How'd you know?" He asked.

"Sal seemed to know you pretty well." Maya replied. Adam nodded in understanding. A moment of silence passed and Maya said, "Tonight was a lot of fun. Thanks Adam."

Adam looked at the girl and smiled. "No problem. You're pretty cool. We should hang again."

Maya nodded. "Definitely. I mean, I'll see you at band practice, but yeah, we should totally hang more. Maybe we could play together one day."

Adam nodded, his eyes lighting up at the suggestion. They rode in silence for most of the car ride home, both in their own thoughts, but still present in the moment. When they pulled up to the Matlin house, Maya was surprised that Adam got out of the car as well. He opened the trunk for her and she got her cello. He closed the trunk and walked her to the door.

"Again, tonight was great, Adam. It was something I needed." It was true. After all the drama with Zig and Tori and Tristan and Campbell. Plus the added drama of everything that was going on with Katie, Maya really did just need a night where she could be carefree and have fun.

"Yeah, it was. I'm glad you had a good time." He replied. And then, he hugged her. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. It took her by surprise, but she hugged him back. She fit into his hug perfectly. It kind of surprised her a little bit. As they were pulling away, Adam leaned over and kissed her cheek. Maya felt herself blush.

Adam stammered out a goodbye and hurried back to his car. Maya watched him go, the blush still on her cheeks and a smile on her face. She stayed in that position until she couldn't see the car anymore. She walked into her house and to her room, totally happy. She set her cello down and fell onto her bed, thinking about the boy.

There were a lot of questions she had that were still unanswered. But she couldn't wait to see him at band practice the next day.

_Fin._

**I swear, when the Degrassi writers put Adam and Maya in a band together, it was like they WANTED me to ship Adaya even harder. Now if we could only get a scene between the two of them. Or a romance storyline. But I'd be happy with just a scene. These two are my OTP and they haven't said one word to each other. But I don't care, I will go down with this ship.**

**Anyways, I wrote this in celebration of the fact that Adam and Maya are in a band together. And it IS a romance, but I'm bad at writing hugely fluffy stories (at least I think so), but I actually like this one okay. I apologize for any OOC-ness. And I would LOVE to see a scene like this between Adam and Maya on the show. But I doubt it'll happen. But oh well. I can dream.**

**I hope you guys liked this!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Degrassi_. If I did, Adam and Maya would have tons of scenes together.**


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